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~~i i~iiiiii~~ii~ iii <br />sss <br />VEGETATION <br />~-Oi -gl <br />EXHIBIT J <br />The following is a report prepared by Mark A. Heffner <br />of Oikos Environmental Services. <br />Most of the vegetation units on the site of the Loesch <br />Pit are old field successional communities. Only a small <br />percentage of the area is occupied by native, well-developed <br />communities. As a consequence, destruction of important <br />native plant communities will not be of much importance. <br />On the other hand, the presence of disturbed communities <br />in various stages of succession provides a very great insight <br />into what species would be appropriate for reclamation, what <br />species will probably invade, and what problems might be <br />encountered in revegetation. In the Colorado River Valley it <br />is not at all uncommon that native communities greatly mask the <br />many problems often encountered in revegetation, problems <br />that are exceedingly difficult to anticipate. Areas such as <br />this site are ideal in revealing these hidden problems, for <br />the simple successional systems clearly reflect subtle but very <br />important differences, particularly in soil-plant relationships. <br />The vegetation can be divided into the following units: <br />I. Natural Communities: <br />A. Artemisia - Atriplex dryland (map unit AAd) <br />B. Typha - Phragrnites - Distichlis wetland (map <br />unit TPDw) <br />C. Marginal bottomland forest (map unit Mbf) <br />II. Successional Communities: <br />A. Bromus dominated group (map unit Bdg) <br />B. Distichlis - Sporobolus - Atriplex group (map <br />unit DSAg) <br />D. Agropyron - Distichlis group (map unit ADg) <br />-36- <br />